Drifters Land Punch in Five-Run Sixth Inning, but Corvallis Prevails 9-6
(Photo by Ella Poor)
By Henry Light
CORVALLIS – The Drifters’ (9-20, 6-14) offense cut deep into Corvallis’ (16-14, 12-9) seven-run lead in the sixth inning at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field, but the five-run inning wasn’t enough to stave off the Knights’ series sweep.
Valiant late-inning relief efforts from Tristan Ledbetter and Drew Miller kept the suddenly close game within reach, but the Drifters’ offense couldn’t land another punch after its emphatic two-out rally in the sixth inning that saw nine batters come to the plate. Aiden Gebhard’s bases-clearing double and Malosi Mata’afa Alferos’ second RBI of the night displayed crucial fight from a struggling offense, but Springfield still fell 9-6 in the end.
“It's expected of (the lineup) to win pitches in those situations,” Drifters Head Coach Jeff Lyle said. “It just gets tough when you're down early, and you're giving away free bases and you're battling but can’t play any small ball.”
The Knights raced out to an early 4-0 lead, scoring two unearned runs on an error in the first inning and tacking on two more through heavy traffic in the second.
Kahaku Harrison led off a timely response inning with a single up the middle in the third and eventually put the Drifters on the board on a sacrifice fly by Mata’afa Alferos.
Corvallis’ pitching staff regained its form after the Drifters’ threat, and the Knights moved ahead 8-1 with a four-run fifth inning.
Once again, the Drifters came through with their backs against the wall. Consecutive two-out walks moved Zach Story’s one-out single to third base to load the bases for Gebhard. Gebhard worked a full count before smacking an up-and-in fastball to the right-centerfield wall on a ground ball up the middle to score all three runners and bring the Drifters within four.
“(Gebhard) is a kid who's been grinding and battling and hasn't been happy with his swing this year, and to see him fight through it and have a little bit of, ‘Oh, well, so what?’ and ‘Let's see what happens’ is huge for him and huge progress to see,” Lyle said.
Still with two outs, Karsten Hansen drew a four-pitch walk, which allowed Mata’afa-Alferos to pick up his second RBI of the game on a bloop single to right field to cut the lead to three. Hansen eventually came in on an error by the catcher to make the score 8-6.
“(Mata’afa Alferos) is seeing more pitches, and he doesn't have the feeling where he needs to swing at every pitch, and he's scared to get behind in the count,” Lyle said. “He's a special player and a special individual with his hand-eye coordination and some of the things he can do.”
While the Drifters’ offensive form subsided, Ledbetter and Miller kept the game close in relief. Ledbetter finished a clean sixth inning with a strikeout before Miller punched out three batters in two innings while allowing just one unearned run.
The Drifters return to Hamlin Sports Complex on Tuesday to open a six-game homestand against Walla Walla and Corvallis. First pitch for the opener against the Sweets is set for 6:35 p.m. The game can be streamed on the Drifters’ YouTube channel.
On Tuesday, join us for our Lego Night presented by Bricks and Minifigs. Our friends at Bricks and Minifigs will be at the ballpark providing Lego fun all game long. There will be a Lego racetrack and building stations on the concourse for kids, and Bricks and Minifigs will be raffling off small Lego sets. Tickets for Tuesday's game can be purchased online at driftersbaseball.com.